Loading the latest stories…
When the shade of yarn she dreams of can’t be found in any stash, a lucky knitter gets to develop one of her own.
Gudrun Johnston3 min read
When I was asked to take part in Knit Stars, I immediately knew that I wanted to use Jamieson’s of Shetland Spindrift in my masterclass. With the mill producing over 220 shades, you would think that I’d have plenty to choose from! Well, the thing is, I was imagining a very particular rusty-red shade seen on the hills of Shetland in the autumn, and I wasn’t quite seeing a match for it on Jamieson’s shade card.
I decided to see if the Jamieson family might consider making a custom color, just for me. They very kindly obliged, and so began a back-and-forth to get just the right recipe of color blending.
The specific hue I had in mind comes from bog cotton grass (Eriophorum angustifolium), which is abundant in Shetland, that turns a lovely shade of red in late September. Interspersed with that color are greens and yellows from the other grasses and often the white tufts of the “cotton” that are still visible in the autumn months.
Bog cotton grass turns red at the end of summer to conserve its nutrients during the winter months.
When the Jamieson’s mill first creates any blended shade, they take percentages of different colors to mix together. Certain shades are used solely for blending, and these are mixed with existing flat shades to create the heathered yarns. I sent Louise at the mill a palette of colors that I thought might make a good blend. She fine-tuned it all and made several different iterations of what we call “blob” palettes to see what combination would work best.
The mill sent Gudrun 12 samples to select from. Which looks most like bog cotton?
On a trip to Shetland, I went to a little room at the mill that I had never been in before. Inside that room is a wee mini carding machine! It’s quite a work of art that pretty much exactly replicates what the full-sized carding machine does. This is what Louise used to process the various color combos to get my shade.
I was sent a sample of carded wool in twelve different iterations of the shade as well as a tiny sample of each that had been spun up. Some leaned more red and others more purple. After studying all of them in the natural light, I landed on sample #4 and named the resulting colorway Hairst. (Hairst is the Shetland word for autumn, and is associated with work done during the harvest season.)
Get a closer look! Click on any image in the gallery below to open it in full-screen mode. Images courtesy of Louise Grains/Jamieson’s of Shetland
The mill then processed around 80 kilograms of wool, which became roughly 2,800 balls of yarn! Initially, this shade was only available as part of a kit, but it can be found in a few stockists of Jamieson’s yarns in the United States.
I used this yarn to develop the Hairst Hap Hood—a Shetland-inspired hood that’s part dickey and part snood. This quirky accessory adds a touch of fun to autumn outfits and, knitted in beautiful lofty Shetland wool, keeps the wearer nice and cozy.
Get a closer look at Gudrun’s projects by clicking on any image below.
I have already added touches of Hairst to other projects I’m working on, and I’m excited for knitters to get their hands on it, too. I’ll be taking my hood to Shetland in a couple of weeks for the annual Shetland Wool Week, which coincides with the “Hairst” time of year. I’ll get to blend into the surrounding hills!
More from Farm & Fiber Knits
From the Library
Comments
No comments yet — be the first to share your thoughts.
Sign in to join the conversation — commenting is for signed-in members.